A recent news report from Providence R.I. shows that T.F. Green Airport is continuing to grow in leaps and bounds while Logan International Airport passenger traffic shrank by 1.1 percent during the first five months of 2001. In the first half of this year, T.F. Green saw passenger numbers climb by 6.8 percent from the previous year.
In addition, T.F. Green officials reported that 60 percent of the cars parking in their facilities bear Massachusetts license plates, a positive indication that Massports regionalization efforts are working.
Massport remains committed to introducing passengers to regional airports and giving them a viable alternative to Logan, said Virginia Buckingham, Massport Executive Director and CEO. I want most of the growth in air travel to occur at other airports, not at Logan.
Due to increased use of regional airports, passenger growth at Logan in 2000 was limited to 1.3 percent over 1999 numbers. In total, 27,412,926 million flew through Logan last year, only 360,218 more than in 1999. Passenger growth from 1998 to 1999 also came in below estimates at just two percent.
Bucking national trends showing unprecedented growth in aviation, Logan reported a decrease in the number of total flights for the second consecutive year. Logan handled 478,873 operations in 2000, down from 494,816 in 1999. This 3.2 percent decrease follows a 2.5 percent decrease in operations from 1998 to 1999.